Quantifying and characterizing contemporary riparian sedimentation

Fluvial processes of erosion, sediment transport and deposition determine the changing form and sedimentary structure of naturally adjusting riparian zones. Riparian sediment storage has both scientific and management importance in relation to: (i) the quantities of sediment that are involved; (ii) the quality of the sediment; and (iii) the dispersal of biological materials, notably the vegetation propagules that are transported and deposited in association with the sediment. After discussing the significance of riparian sedimentation processes, this paper reviews methods for quantifying contemporary sediment deposition within water bodies and their margins. Methods for investigating contemporary riparian sedimentation are given particular emphasis, and the extent to which different methods provide comparable estimates and have been used to support the analysis of different physical and chemical properties of the sediment are outlined. The importance of the following are stressed: (i) selecting a sampling method that is suited to the sedimentation environment; (ii) incorporating careful cross‐calibration if measurements from different methods are to be combined; and (iii) replicating measurements to give more robust estimates if small traps are employed. It is concluded that artificial turf mats provide a useful design of sediment trap across a range of environmental conditions because: (i) their surface roughness reduces problems of sediment removal by flood waters or rainfall; (ii) their pliability permits installation on irregular surfaces; (iii) they can be securely attached to the ground with metal pins to resist high shear stresses from river flows; (iv) they are robust and light and so easily manipulated in the field and laboratory; (v) it is possible to fully recover the deposited sediment to accurately determine the amount of sediment deposited and to support a range of other analyses. Results are presented to illustrate how artificial turf mats can be used to estimate the quantity and quality of deposited sediment and to explore the associated deposition of viable seeds. This provides one example of the important hydroecological role of riparian sedimentation processes and of the potential for the development of innovative, interdisciplinary research on riparian sediment dynamics. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

黄河下游滩区居民对安全的心理需求

黄河下游滩区居民对自身安全的需求非常强烈，具体表现在以下3个方面：对房屋采取垫高房台等安全措施，出于安全的原因愿意搬离现居住地，较高生育率与偏好男孩。他们建立在安全需求上的相应行为，增大了生活成本，影响着他们生存发展的空间，进而制约着滩区社会经济的发展。     

黄河下游滩区居民心理研究的设计及信息获取

特殊的自然环境，必将塑造滩区居民特有的心理状况，进而影响滩区社会经济的发展。黄河下游滩区居民心理研究从研究对象、技术路线与方法、数据来源等方面进行了调查设计；整群随机抽取河南、山东2个省6个县22个村作为调查对象，调查问卷分为“搬迁居民卷”和“未搬迁居民卷”，涉及题项分另？为82个和91个；采取入户调查填写问卷、座谈、个案访谈等方式，共获得相关资料1021份。     

Benefits to 0+ fishes of connecting man‐made waterbodies to the lower River Trent,England

Floodplain waterbodies are reputed to enhance recruitment of riverine fish populations via provision of spawning and nursery habitat, refuge from floods, and increased availability of planktonic food resources compared with main river channels. Notwithstanding, there have been few parallel studies of fishes and their food resources at both main river and floodplain sites. Thus, this study investigated the 0+ fishes, zooplankton and phytoplankton (chlorophyll a) at four main river and four (man‐made) floodplain sites on the lower River Trent, England, between May 1999 and October 2004 inclusive. All sites shared the same key fish species, and there were no consistent differences in the densities, growth or condition of 0+ fishes from main river and floodplain sites. Similarly, all sites shared the same key zooplankton taxa. However, zooplankton densities, notably of large‐bodied cladocerans, and chlorophyll a concentrations, were significantly higher at floodplain sites than at main river sites. Thus, connection of man‐made waterbodies has the potential to enhance recruitment of riverine fish populations via provision of important spawning and nursery habitat, and superior feeding opportunities for 0+ fishes compared with main river channels. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Environmental Effects of Hydro-Electric Power Generation in Africa and the Potential for Artificial Floods

Electricity is a fundamental requirement for economic growth, and hydro-electric power is often thought to be environmentally benign. However, the construction and operation of many hydro-power dams in Africa have had significant negative impacts on the environment and rural economies. Reduced downstream flooding has destroyed fisheries and starved the floodplain soils of moisture and nutrients. Often the worst-affected areas have no electrification and therefore do not benefit from power generation. New dams which are planned in Kenya and Tanzania have been specifically designed to make flood releases. This will allow electricity to be generated whilst maintaining a dynamic flooding pattern for the short-term economic importance of fisheries and agriculture and the longer-term importance of soil fertility and biodiversity. Involvement of local community representatives in deciding when flood waters should be released on the Phongolo River in South Africa has resulted in substantial benefits to floodplain users.     

黄河下游滩区居民心理研究的启示与建议

黄河下游滩区居民因特殊自然环境而形成了特定的心理活动、心理需求，这既影响到他们的生产与生活．又对政府在滩区的有关政策产生或积极或消极的影响。国家制定和实施滩区政策时，应根据滩区居民的心理需要．树立“以人为本，，的观念，在洪水淹没补偿、村台建设与搬迁、基层组织建设、外迁政策的落实等方面切实解决滩区居民的具体困难，并采取一系列综合措施促进滩区社会经济健康发展及人与自然的和谐。     

HYDROLOGIC CONNECTIVITY OF FLOODPLAINS,NORTHERN MISSOURI—IMPLICATIONS FOR MANAGEMENT AND RESTORATION OF FLOODPLAIN FOREST COMMUNITIES IN DISTURBED LANDSCAPES

Hydrologic connectivity between the channel and floodplain is thought to be a dominant factor determining floodplain processes and characteristics of floodplain forests. We explored the role of hydrologic connectivity in explaining floodplain forest community composition along streams in northern Missouri, USA. Hydrologic analyses at 20 streamgages (207–5827 km² area) document that magnitudes of 2‐year return floods increase systematically with increasing drainage area whereas the average annual number and durations of floodplain‐connecting events decrease. Flow durations above the active‐channel shelf vary little with increasing drainage area, indicating that the active‐channel shelf is in quasi‐equilibrium with prevailing conditions. The downstream decrease in connectivity is associated with downstream increase in channel incision. These relations at streamflow gaging stations are consistent with regional channel disturbance patterns: channel incision increases downstream, whereas upstream reaches have either not incised or adjusted to incision by forming new equilibrium floodplains. These results provide a framework to explain landscape‐scale variations in composition of floodplain forest communities in northern Missouri. Faust ( 2006 ) had tentatively explained increases of flood‐dependent tree species, and decreases of species diversity, with a downstream increase in flood magnitude and duration. Because frequency and duration of floodplain‐connecting events do not increase downstream, we hypothesize instead that increases in relative abundance of flood‐dependent trees at larger drainage area result from increasing size of disturbance patches. Bank‐overtopping floods at larger drainage area create large, open, depositional landforms that promoted the regeneration of shade‐intolerant species. Higher tree species diversity in floodplains with small drainage areas is associated with non‐incised floodplains that are frequently connected to their channels and therefore subject to greater effective hydrologic variability compared with downstream floodplains. Understanding the landscape‐scale geomorphic and hydrologic controls on floodplain connectivity provides a basis for more effective management and restoration of floodplain forest communities. Published 2013. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.     

HYDRAULICS OF COMPOUND CHANNEL WITH VEGETATED FLOODPLAINS

1. INTRODUCTIONThe Pearl River delta is often subject to typhoons and heavy rainfalls. Big waves generated by typhoons cause scouring, even collapsing and breaching of river embankments. Facts have proved that the effectiveness for wind and ship wave prot…     

A Twofold Strategy for Riparian Restoration: Combining a Functional Flow Regime and Direct Seeding to Re‐establish Cottonwoods

The transboundary St Mary River drains Glacier National Park, USA, and was progressively dammed and diverted over the 20th century to support agricultural irrigation in northern Montana and southern Alberta, Canada. Following reduced instream flows, the riparian cottonwoods collapsed, and by 2000, few parental trees remained to provide seeds for cottonwood replenishment. As a novel twofold restoration strategy we: (1) worked with the dam operators to deliver a functional flow regime, a regulated instream flow pattern intended to recover some ecological function and specifically seedling recruitment, and (2) delivered cottonwood seeds by direct spreading and by sticking cuttings with seed catkins to allow gradual seed dispersal. The combination of river regulation and seeding enabled cottonwood colonization, and around 1.5% of the applied seeds produced seedlings after the first summer, at sites without livestock or heavy recreational use. Around 15% of those seedlings survived through the fourth summer, with mortality due to drought stress and flood scour, and establishment and survival were higher for the prairie cottonwood, Populus deltoides, than the narrowleaf cottonwood, Populus angustifolia. This study confirmed that the lack of seed source trees limited cottonwood colonization and demonstrated that the twofold restoration strategy provides promise for severe situations where parental trees have been lost. However, this would require substantial effort, and it would be more efficient to provide survivable instream flow patterns that avoid cottonwood collapse. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Living in highly dynamic polluted river floodplains, do contaminants contribute to population and community effects?

The aim of this paper was to collect evidence for the effects of contaminants on biota in a highly dynamic river Rhine floodplain. To this purpose we reviewed the results of circa 10 studies performed in this floodplain. The floodplain was contaminated with elevated levels of cadmium, copper, PAHs, and PCBs and high levels of zinc which were at some sites above legislative values. The results showed that the present contaminants were accumulated by the floodplain inhabiting organisms, but meanwhile population and community effects were ambiguous. Only for the mayfly Ephoron virgo clear effects were detected at the level of the single floodplain. The absence of clear population and community effects is puzzling since at lower contaminant concentrations adverse effects were detected in other environments. Factors that may mask toxic effects include flooding and food quality and quantity. We conclude that given the site specific conditions, being an open, eutrophic system with a highly dynamic flooding pattern, assessment of the contribution of toxicants to observed population density or biomass and community composition requires 1] an increase in number of replicates; 2] a larger scale of investigation and 3] comparison to stable systems with comparable contamination levels.